Plane of Nutrition Affects Plasma Ghrelin Concentrations in Neonatal Calves

Investigating different planes of nutrition on appetiterelated hormones could provide knowledge into the role of these hormones on growth performance in neonatal calves. The objective of the current study was to investigate the effects of feeding rates on ghrelin in plasma from preruminant calves. Treatments (n = 8 per treatment) were designed to achieve three targeted daily rates of gain (No Growth = 0.0 kg, Low Growth = 0.55 kg, or High Growth = 1.2 kg) in live weight over a 7-wk period. All calves were fed a 30% crude protein, 20% fat, all-milk protein milk replacer reconstituted to 14% dry matter. Daily growth rates for No, Low, and High Growth calves were different (P\u3c 0.001) throughout the experimental period and averaged 0.11 ± 0.02 kg, 0.58 ± 0.02 and 1.16 ± 0.04 kg, respectively. Fasting ghrelin active concentration was higher (P \u3c 0.0001) in the No Growth calves over the 7-wk period in comparison to the Low and High growth calves. Circulating concentrations of ghrelin in neonates fed different planes are similar to responses of adult humans to feed intake. These results indicate an inverse relationship of ghrelin active concentration with respect to plane of nutrition and growth rate in neonates

The Effectiveness of MyPlate and Paleolithic-based Diet Recommendations, both with and without Exercise, on Aerobic Fitness, Muscular Strength and Anaerobic Power in Young Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial

International Journal of Exercise Science 11(2): 921-933, 2018. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of recommending a MyPlate or a Paleolithic-based diet, both with and without exercise, on aerobic fitness, strength, and anaerobic power over eight weeks. Participants (n=20) were randomized to one of four groups, (1) a MyPlate diet (MP), (2) Paleolithic-based diet (PD), (3) MyPlate and exercise (MP + Ex), and (4) Paleolithic-based diet and exercise (PD + Ex). The exercise included two days of unsupervised aerobic and resistance exercise. At baseline and final, absolute and relative peak oxygen consumption (absVO2peak and relVO2peak), anaerobic power, and upper and lower body strength were determined. Data were analyzed using repeated measures two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA indicated that there was no significant interaction between time point (TP)*diet (D)*exercise (Ex) for all variables except relVO2peak (p = 0.016). The MP + Ex group (Δ+4.4 ml×kg-1×min-1) had a greater change from baseline compared to the MP group (Δ-2.7 ml×kg-1×min-1, p = 0.002), and PD + Ex group (Δ-0.3 ml×kg-1×min-1, p = 0.03). The results suggest recommending a MyPlate diet with both aerobic and resistance training are effective at improving aerobic fitness when compared to PD recommendations with exercise, although these conclusions may be confounded by low compliance to exercise recommendations

Effects of Dietary Macronutrients on Appetite-Related Hormones in Blood on Body Composition of Lean and Obese Rats

Investigating the role of appetite-related hormones on energy balance and body composition when varying diets are consumed could provide insight into the etiology of obesity. Fifty-three adult male Sprague Dawley and 30 adult male Zucker Fatty rats were assigned randomly to one of five diets: Control, 75% control, American Heart Association (AHA), Atkins, or high fat (HF). Diets were fed for five weeks. Weekly plasma samples were collected and analyzed for ghrelin, leptin, insulin, and adiponectin. Terminal plasma samples were analyzed for ghrelin, leptin, insulin, glucagon, oxyntomodulin, adiponectin, and blood metabolites. Our results indicate that macronutrient composition of the diet influences appetite-related hormones differently in genetically divergent rats. For example, glucagon concentration was higher in obese rats fed the Atkins diet in comparison to obese rats fed the HF and 75% control diets (P\u3c0.05) and tended to be higher in obese rats fed the Atkins diet in comparison with rats fed the AHA and control diets (0.0

Nutrient Regulation of Plasma Ghrelin Concentration in Lean and Overweight Female Humans

Investigating the role of appetite-related hormones on energy balance and body composition when varying diets are consumed could provide insight into the etiology of obesity. Eight female subjects, ages 20–30, were used in this study: four normal subjects with body mass index (BMI) of 19–24 and four overweight/obese subjects with of BMI of 27–30. Each subject received both treatments by a crossover design. Two normal and two overweight subjects were assigned to the Atkins’ diet. The Atkins’ diet contained 10% of energy as carbohydrate, 45% of energy as protein, and 45% of energy as lipid. The remaining two normal and two overweight subjects were assigned to the AHA diet that contained 63% of energy as carbohydrate, 12% of energy as protein, and 25% of energy as lipid. Each diet was fed for 14 days, and then subjects were switched to the other diet. We hypothesized that subjects consuming the Atkins’ diet would have lower plasma ghrelin concentrations than subjects consuming the AHA diet. On days 6 and 20, blood was taken at one hour before and after the noon meal. Blood was taken every hour from 7 am to 9 pm on days 13 and 27 of the study. On days 14 and 28, subjects were fasted from 7 am to 12 pm and fed their meal at noon. Two blood samples were taken on days 14 and 28 at 11 am and one hour after the meal. All plasma samples were analyzed for ghrelin. Normal weight women consuming the Atkins diet had lower fasting ghrelin concentrations than did women consuming the AHA diet (p=0.0141). Ghrelin concentrations in overweight women were not significantly different (p=0.8076). These results indicate a relationship of appetite-related hormones with respect to diet composition

Dynamics of a structured slug population model in the absence of seasonal variation

We develop a novel, nonlinear structured population model for the slug Deroceras reticulatum, a highly significant agricultural pest of great economic impact, in both organic and non-organic settings. In the absence of seasonal variations, we numerically explore the effect of life history traits that are dependent on an individual's size and measures of population biomass. We conduct a systematic exploration of parameter space and highlight the main mechanisms and implications of model design. A major conclusion of this work is that strong size dependent predation significantly adjusts the competitive balance, leading to non-monotonic steady state solutions and slowly decaying transients consisting of distinct generational cycles. Furthermore, we demonstrate how a simple ratio of adult to juvenile biomass can act as a useful diagnostic to distinguish between predated and non-predated environments, and may be useful in agricultural settings

Effect of Ghrelin Injection on Blood and Body Composition in Rats

Ghrelin has been reported to cause hyperglycemia in humans and adiposity in rodents. The objective of trial one was to test the effects of ghrelin on blood and body composition in rats. The objective of trial two was to evaluate the effect of two doses of ghrelin on blood and body composition. Trial One: Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were administered 1 μg/rat ghrelin in 0.15 M NaCl or vehicle (0.15 M NaCl) every morning for 30 days. The terminal blood sample was analyzed for glucose, urea nitrogen, and nonesterified fatty acids concentrations. The carcasses were analyzed for total lipid and nitrogen content. Blood urea nitrogen, nonesterified fatty acids, carcass total lipid, and carcass total nitrogen concentrations were similar for the control and ghrelin groups. However, blood glucose concentration tended to be higher in the ghrelin group than in the control. Ghrelin administered at 2.4 μg/kg did not cause adiposity in rats but did tend to cause hyperglycemia. Trial Two: Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were administered 1 μg/rat ghrelin, 20 μg/rat ghrelin, or vehicle every morning for 30 days. The terminal blood sample was analyzed for glucose and cholesterol concentrations. The carcasses were analyzed for total lipid and nitrogen content. Carcass total nitrogen concentrations were similar for the control and ghrelin groups. Carcass percent lipid was higher in the 1 μg/rat ghrelin group (P = 0.04). Feed intake among all three groups was the same. Blood glucose concentration, however, tended to be higher in the ghrelin groups than in the control. Blood cholesterol concentration was lower in the ghrelin treated animals. In the second trial, ghrelin injection of 1 μg/rat did cause an increase in adiposity whereas 20 μg/rat did not cause an increase in adiposity. Both ghrelin treatments tended to cause hyperglycemia in rats. In summary, ghrelin increased blood glucose concentration without changing body composition

Enhancement of bichromatic high-harmonic generation with a high-frequency field

Using a high-frequency field superposed to a linearly polarized bichromatic laser field composed by a wave with frequency $\omega$ and a wave with frequency $2\omega$, we show it is possible to enhance the intensity of a group of high harmonics in orders of magnitude. These harmonics have frequencies about 30% higher than the monochromatic-cutoff frequency, and, within the three-step-model framework, correspond to a set of electron trajectories for which tunneling ionization is strongly suppressed. Particular features in the observed enhancement suggest that the high-frequency field provides an additional mechanism for the electron to reach the continuum. This interpretation is supported by a time-frequency analysis of the harmonic yield. The additional high frequency field permits the control of this group of harmonics leaving all other sets of harmonics practically unchanged, which is an advantage over schemes involving only bichromatic fields.Comment: 6 pages RevTex, 5 figures (ps files), Changes in text, figures, references and equations include

Feigned Consensus: Usurping the Law in Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma Prosecutions

Few medico-legal matters have generated as much controversy--both in the medical literature and in the courtroom--as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), now known more broadly as Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). The controversies are of enormous significance in the law because child abuse pediatricians claim, on the basis of a few non-specific medical findings supported by a weak and methodologically flawed research base, to be able to “diagnose” child abuse, and thereby to provide all of the evidence necessary to satisfy all of the legal elements for criminal prosecution (or removal of children from their parents). It is a matter, therefore, in which medical opinion claims to fully occupy the legal field. As controversies flare up increasingly in the legal arena, child abuse pediatricians and prosecutors now respond by claiming both that there is actually no real controversy about SBS/AHT, and that it is a purely medical “diagnosis” and not a legal conclusion, so testimony in support of the SBS hypothesis should not be challenged in court. This article, coauthored by four law professors, two physicians, and a physicist, demonstrates that there is very much a live controversy about the SBS/AHT hypothesis and maintains that, under traditional principles of evidence law, physicians should not be permitted to “diagnose” abuse in court (as opposed to identifying specific symptoms or medical findings)

Open Gromov-Witten Invariants of Toric Calabi-Yau 3-Folds

We present a proof of the mirror conjecture of Aganagic-Vafa [arXiv:hep-th/0012041] and Aganagic-Klemm-Vafa [arXiv:hep-th/0105045] on disk enumeration in toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds for all smooth semi-projective toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds. We consider both inner and outer branes, at arbitrary framing. In particular, we recover previous results on the conjecture for (i) an inner brane at zero framing in the total space of the canonical line bundle of the projective plane (Graber-Zaslow [arXiv:hep-th/0109075]), (ii) an outer brane at arbitrary framing in the resolved conifold (Zhou [arXiv:1001.0447]), and (iii) an outer brane at zero framing in the total space of the canonical line bundle of the projective plane (Brini [arXiv:1102.0281, Section 5.3]).Comment: 39 pages, 11 figure

Introduction of a novel magnetic resonance imaging-based scoring system for assessing disease activity in children with juvenile dermatomyositis

Objectives: We aimed to develop and assess the reliability of a novel MRI-based scoring system for reporting the severity of MRI findings in children with suspected JDM. Methods: Nine consultant paediatric radiologists independently assessed and scored 40 axial and 30 coronal thigh MR images of children with suspected JDM on two occasions using the juvenile dermatomyositis magnetic resonance Imaging Score (JIS). JIS was calculated for both reads for each plane and each limb, with possible scores ranging from 0 (normal) to 100 (severe). Inter- and intraobserver agreement was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and two- and one-way random effects models, respectively. Bland-Altman plots of the difference in JIS against the average JIS were also produced for each rater. Results: Overall, the interobserver reliability and agreement was good-for axial images, JIS ranged from 46.8 to 61.0 [ICC = 0.88 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.92)] for the left limb and 47.9-61.4 [ICC = 0.87 (95% CI: 0.81, 0.92)] for the right limb. For coronal images, JIS ranged from 56.7 to 65.1 [ICC = 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.95)] for the left limb and 55.7 to 66.8 [ICC = 0.90 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.94)] for the right limb. The intraobserver reliability and agreement was good, with ICC ranging from 0.90 to 0.94. Conclusion: JIS is a semi-objective scoring system with potential to serve as a reliable biomarker of disease severity and response to therapeutic interventions in children with JDM